Monday, May 16, 2011

Brian O'Driscoll is fairly lucky that his arms aren't an inch longer, as he appeared to swing a punch at loose forward Chris Henry in Leinster's Magners League semi final against Ulster on Friday night.

Leinster, who came out 18-3 winners at the RDS, will wait to see if O'Driscoll will be available for their Heineken Cup Final against Northampton Saints this coming weekend. While he seems to have avoided a citing, there is still an injury cloud hovering over the talisman centre.

O'Driscoll lashed out at Henry early in the first half as the two of them got in a bit of a tangle while competing to get to the breakdown. The Ireland captain's quick left seemed to only glance Henry, with no damage being done and play continuing.

Referee George Clancy was however notified by one of his touchline assistants, and had a bit of a chat with the players, telling them too cool down and direct their energy into the game.

Leinster have not heard from the citing commissioner, so O'Driscoll, injury worries aside, looks to have dodged a bullet with that one. With events taking place elsewhere this past weekend, it does make one wonder if players should be punished according to intent or outcome.

His punch could easily have landed, while Manu Tuilagi's three might have been poorly aimed glancing blows with far less consequence. As it stands, Tuilagi is facing a hefty suspension, while O'Driscoll, who by all means looked like he lost his cool, is free to play.

It's an interesting one. I suppose you could say that had Tuilagi swung just once, and barely connected, it would hardly have been discussed, giving the entire incident a different complexion. Maybe his good aim, landing three from three, is his worst enemy right now.

Whatever the case, Leinster's fans will be breathing a sigh of relief that O'Driscoll may have actually held back at the last split second. Either that, or maybe he simply mistimed it.

Yet another one of these holding back and response cases. Personally, I think Henry deserved a punch. He wasn't just holding him. He held him back for a few metres, pushed him, pulled him, then pushed him and palmed his face with force before BOD reacted. It took a long time for BOD to react despite being fouled multiple times in front of the referee.

I don't think that this should by judged by the same criteria as Manu's. Both players here had flailing arms going, and the 'punch' was obviously just a dig out of irritation more than anything. Manu's punches displayed malicious intent and were clearly of a different calibre to BOD's. Moreover, Tuilagi initially provoked Ashton with a clothes-line hit off the ball, and had no right to retaliate the way he did to the 'shove' he deserved off Ashton. We also heard BOD accepting he'd been a bit stupid in the exchange, and remorse is always favoured by the citing commission.

Bod should be cited for intent but a much leaner punishment, no ban but a large fine possibly. Tuilagi's was a lot worse as he started it off with a high dangerous tackle and when Ashton defended himself tuilagi acted like the bully he is and started hitting him. He could have done serious damage to Ashton. If bod had landed his shot he should face a suspension because he could badly injure a player. No excuse for punches people are held at breakdown all the time the ref polices it as best they can but him missing it does not give them the right to react. Leinster will win with or without bod anyway ;-).

@ Bob, you (one with braincells) leaving would be part of the problem you're complaining about. It's not RD, its a small percentage of the visitors. If all the good ones choose not to post constructive comments, then obviously the muppets will take over. Also, youtube is a long way off still.

About this, it was definitely a punch. As it says above, lucky to have no connected properly! :)

2. Henry was pulling back O'Driscoll and all over him in the lead up to the ruck.

3. He never retreated to be onside before entering the ruck

4. Had his hands all over O'Driscoll when they finally got to the ruck including hands in the face.

and last but not least...

5. O'Driscoll didn't even land his punch on Henry, it barley caught him on the chin, where as Tuilagi gets up squares up to Ashton and lets fly.

Asthon merely pushed Tuilagi and he stood up and wholloped him...three times. Henry was all over O'Driscoll and he got frustrated and lashed out, I'm not justifying O'Driscoll's actions nor am I condemning Tuilagi's just trying to state the facts.

P.S I actually LOVED seeing Asthon getting belted in the head he's a good player but he's as cocky as they come.

Now anybody comparing this incident with the Ashton/Tuilagi just wants to start trolling.

When you are being held and you throw a hand (open or fist) to that guy to free yourself, it's called rugby.

When you perform a high, off the ball tackle on someone, then that guy shoves you from behind and you react by standing up and packing three punches to the guys head, meaning to "teach him a lesson" or "take revenge", that's assult and thuggery, and it doesn't belong to the rugby pitch, wether you are caucasian, american, indian, islander or alien.

The best "vendetta" for a personal offence in rugby is hitting the guy like hell with a bone crunching tackle. Just ask Matt Rogers if he would attempt to punch Josh Lewsey again, and he'll feel his ribs sore.

What French player got banned for 70 weeks because of a punch. The only thing big ban I remember was for Cudmore who has a history of punching players. BOD does not. Also, the French scumbags that gouged deserved those very long bans. So stop whinging.

you have to find it funny after a while at how the french fans complaining about every single offense like this because they are pissed that the two biggest scumbags in pro rugby right now are french got banned. haha its pathetic really.

and bob, what frenchman got close to 70 weeks for a punch? not even that pussy little scumbag depuis got that long

Juggernauter what amazes me is how you think Tuilagi's tackled was bad....

Watch THAT video again (not this one) and tell me how Tuilagi should have tackled?

Castro went in for the tackle and in doing so opened a MASSIVE gap for Ashton, the ball was popped to Ashton, Tuilagi saw what was going down and leapt for the tackle... subsequently Castro knocked the ball on meaning Ashton never had the ball...the tackle was neither high, nor should be counted as a true "off the ball" tackle...

Had castro NOT knocked the ball on, I believe it would have been in Ashtons hands and we'd all be praising the hit as a FANTAAASTIC hit and we'd all be "hating" ashton if he'd behaved that way.

i'm sorry, but throwing a punch is throwing a punch. He should get cited. He shouldnt be allowed to get away with it because he threw a rubbish shot. The same intent was clearly there. We don't need this in the game.

Firstly Tuilagi's tackle wasn't high - Like No.7 stated he had committed to tackling Ashton who was about to receive the pass, but Castro knocked the ball down, leaving Ashton minus a ball but with a whole lot of Tuilagi beef.

I don't blame him for shoving Manu - i'd be pissed too if someone tackled me without the ball. However Manu WAS committed to the tackle so you can understand the sequence of events. Plus the point of contact was chest high and only slid upwards because Ashton was knocked sideways so forcefully as he wasn't expecting to get tackled let alone without the ball.

Watch this tackle http://bit.ly/kRRr4Q (Tuilagi Sr vs Van Gisbergen) and you'll see what would've happened had Castro not knocked down the pass.

From here on the circumstances are the same.

Player A shoves Player BPlayer B retaliates with a punch on Player A

How hard the punch is, how many punches are thrown, how well it connects, how open or closed his fist is, how much provocation is involved does not count one jot.

When a player retaliates with a punch regardless of the above - it should be the same punishment as it is still the same offence - Foul Play: Red Card.

Manu saw red mist. BOD saw red mist.

How the ref in BODs case didnt have the minerals to card him is even worse than the Linesmans effort on Tuilagi. He is practically a metre away from him and looking directly at the action.

Disgraceful.

I have a feeling that had Henry been well and truly floored by the one punch BOD threw there'd still be less condemnation of BOD as there was for Manu.

Lastly for those who call Manu a bully - he's 19yrs old for f*cks sake - just a boy who lost his cool amongst men and who's actions showed how much of man he is trying to be...a bit of growing up to do but he'll learn a lot from this incident.

lets be honest, it wasn't that bad. he took a small swing after having loads of shit done to him by Henry. everyone saying he should be banned, etc. go play football. please. it's fine to say that what manu did was thuggery. bod's was far from that. he was provoked and provoked and provoked...

Seeing as the IRB are sticklers when it comes to rules, they would not be allowed to ban BOD. The rules only discuss actually striking an opponent. BOD did not strike Henry. Simple as that. The citing commissions are conducted according to the IRB laws and BOD did not actually break any.

@hyperlumps that was one of the worst posts ive ever seen. everything in it is wrong. o'driscoll cant possibly be cited or sent off because he didnt actually hit anybody. manu tuilagi was also about 3 stone heavier than the person he was punching whereas odricoll was 3 stone lighter. haha what are you on about

Good point Hyperlumps.Same crime.People overreacted so much to Tuilagi, BOd does the same thing, but misses (cuz he's a worse boxer) and he's just letting off a bit of steam.Rubbish.Both guys did the same thing, one was just better at throwing punches.

I can't believe how rugby is changing for the worse.A couple punches in the heat of a game and everyone cries like we're watching soccer.

Keep in mind I am a huge BOD fan, but it is the same situation as what happens in sports here in the states (especially NHL playoffs). Some relatively unheard of player (Tuilagi) commits an offense he gets punished to a full extent. Big name, "face of the sport" player (O'driscoll) commits an offense everyone looks the other way. I still think Tuilagi deserved a harsher punishment but a punch is a punch.

Not a big fan of bod but i think that unsporting behaviour, such as being held should be rewarded with unsporting behaviour such as a punch. tit for tat as far as i´m concerned. refs need to clamp down on any unsporting behaviour, full stop!

Come on people, the absolute bias from some of you is deplorable, so tuilagisis worse because he connected? Get real. Just because BOD cant aim a punch to save his life and Tuilagi can does'nt make it any less an offence. When your in the heat of the game and tensions and testosterone are at a high, getting a full force shove means one thing "lets fight". Getting held back is nothing more than an annoyance and should not be dealt with like that.

" Anonymous said...@hyperlumps that was one of the worst posts ive ever seen. everything in it is wrong. o'driscoll cant possibly be cited or sent off because he didnt actually hit anybody. manu tuilagi was also about 3 stone heavier than the person he was punching whereas odricoll was 3 stone lighter. haha what are you on about"

lol, right so your now saying your only allow to punch people your own weight....

Henry pulling back O'Driscoll was giving BOD a taste of his own medicine! People call it light-hearted gamesmanship when it's the Irish captain - "oh bless him look at that lovely cheeky gin" - but anyone else and they're sayin "He deserves it!"

Fact of the matter is that Tuilagi's punch happened on the same weekend, had it been next week then we'd have been scrutinising BOD a lot more.

It's one thing to play with passion, another to lose your cool and strike out at someone's face so blatantly.

O'Driscoll is a great player, as an Irishman I love him, but he has a very dirty side to him.

Agree with LAZ, pretty sure HyperLumps is joking here and none of you cretins have copped on to it. Satire lost through the keyboard.

Also, haven't watched this vid so don't know if its included, but while watching it live you can see BOD realise he's swung an arm and immediately look for the referee to see what trouble might be coming. Sure he was shitting himself when Clancy called him over.

1. BOD was reacting in a slightly excessive way; MT was over the horizon, let alone the line.2. BOD swung once; from memory MT swung at least four times.3. BOD has (as far as I know) an unblemished disciplinary record stretching over fifteen years or so; MT does borderline tackles all the time and has only been around a year or so, making his record less impressive.

Anyway, as most sensible people pointed out in the other thread, what MT did was not that bad. The disgraceful aspect was the TJ's response.

Anyone pulling the race card needs to grow up. The reason islanders get more reds and yellows is because they perform more spear tackles and shoulder charges. End of. If anyone wants to argue otherwise they need to do a blinded study on tackles and outcomes, and present the results. Until then, STFU.

This is great. O'Driscoll reacts to a guy who's grabbing him and pushing him and interfering with him at the breakdown by swinging his arm at him and not connecting. Tuilagi reacts to one push after he had just tackled the guy without the ball by whacking him three times in the face. I'm starting to think a lot of people on this site must actually be retarded if they think that they're the same thing.

Here is the question. In the real world, justice exists both to punish and educate the wrongdoer, and to compensate the victim(s) in some way.

In rugby, justice exists purely to punish wrongdoers. In this case, BOD is a wrongdoer in need of punishment, regardless of whether there was a victim or not.

However, the offence was worthy of a yellow card, not a red. And yellow card offences don't require bans - since it got missed by the ref, a 'smack on the bottom' fine would suffice for BOD.

Comparing this to the Tuilagi incident... BOD transgressed the law once. Manu transgressed it three times, none of which could be considered 'retaliation'. Yellow for BOD, red card and a 4 week ban for Tuilagi strikes me as being fair enough.

Meh, Henry's hand-to-face looked like a strike to me. Just cuz his fist isn't closed doesn't mean it's not. So if anything, Henry deserves a yellow. But the game isn't that small and petty. The ref talked to them, they apologized, game on.

Well put No 7.It's rugby, it's a full contact sport.Occaisonally things get too ehated and some throws some punches.So you give them a yellow card to cool down, and the game restarts. Maybe a ban of a couple weeks to think about it and discourage it a bit.But beyond that, you just accept that's an occiasonal part of the game.

How so many of you missed such obvious sarcasm from Hyperlumps is beyond me. As for the incident; it was the start of the game and Henry was trying to bully/get at O'Driscoll. Brian laid down a marker. Henry was pretty quiet for the rest of the game. Nice work BOD in my opinion. As for Tuilagi it was lovely to see Ashton get a few smacks, the word excessive does come to mind though.

Just to sort things out on the French front, some of my countrymen (it's hard for me to judge if it's a majority, or rather a minority) actually believe that French players get longer bans than other nations, regardless of the punishable action they commit (gouges, spear tackles, you name it..).Of course this is absolute nonsense, bans are no worse than for other nations. They are deserved and consistent with other bans.I guess this way of seeing things is mainly due to the recent lengthy "eye-gouging" bans for two French players, and so it should vanish in the near future, provided there are no new eye-gouging criminals out there (yes, it is a criminal act).

"as an Irishman" surely you should be aware that BOD doesn't by any means have a dirty side to his game. Whether the punch connected or not this was massively out of character. Personally, I can understand exactly how and why it happened, Henry was repeatedly fouling him again and again off the ball. Anyone on a pitch in the heat of the moment would have lashed out in the exact same way if demonised like that.

Like the O Brien incident 2 weeks ago, it's what you deserve for fouling or impeding another player in a cynical fashion. If you don't want a smack then play to the rules yourself.

In all BODS games for club and country over the past decade I fail to think of any dirty things that BOD has done prior to this, not a single one - perhaps you could enlighten those less knowledgeable as yourself with some examples?

Are you actually serious? Got some evidence to back this up? I know lot of the internet trollers don't like him, but that often happens with figureheads in sport, and usually happens when that figurehead beat the troll's precious team,